Racing legend not exactly high on Champ Car, proposed merger

Published 5:30 am, Saturday, May 13, 2006

Enough said. For everyone who loves motor sports, having 30 minutes with A.J. is like finding a gushing oil well in the backyard. This will be Foyt's 48th Indianapolis 500 as a driver and owner.

Settle down and get ready for A.J. at his best on a number of topics, ranging from the money needed to get into racing to the status of his grandson A.J. IV to his opinion of the Champ Car race in Houston:

• Right off the bat, here's what he thinks about the Champ Car race, and it's not going to be a surprise. Foyt is true-blue to the IRL and never cared much for Champ Car.

• So, A.J., we understand there's a Champ Car in your town this weekend?"I understand that," he said. "They've run them there before. Where they're running is about the worst place you can ever go see a race. I never even drove down the street to see them before. I'm not going to miss nothing."

• What about the talk of unification with Champ Cart and the IRL?"I think it's a lot of hot air myself. The reason I say that, all your big teams, Penske, Ganassi, big drivers are over here at the present time. I can't see where IRL would benefit by them coming together. If they wanted to come over and run the same conditions that we're running with our type of cars ... but I don't see where you'd gain that much ... "

• How has money changed the racing game?"I would say in today's market, 75 percent of them (drivers) have bought their way in. Let's put it like this. You never would have heard of A.J. Foyt if I had to buy my way in because I didn't have two pennies to rub together. I had to do it on my ability."

• What about the possibility of A.J. Foyt IV, who lost his NASCAR Busch Series ride, driving one of his grandfather's cars in the Indy 500?"Well, no, he definitely won't drive for me. He wanted to go down there (Busch Series) and kind of go on his own, which I gave him my blessing. If that's what he wants to do, I'll never hold nobody back.

"Some of the people that he signed with and some of the things he's got going on, there's no way I'd work with him."

• So is there a family feud going on?"No, no, no, no. I love him like my own son. I love him to death. He's the one that wanted to go do the things he is. I'm putting a team together. I'm just worried about my own team right now with (Felipe) Giaffone. That's my main driver. That's who I have to worry about.

"Last 2 1/2 (years), we've kind of had our (rears) kicked. I don't like that. I'm working hard to get us back on top."

Earnhardt knows the score

Across the nation, tops were popped on Buds last week to celebrate
Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s
first win of the season. Junior won at Richmond to get to sixth in the Nextel Cup standings.

Is it too early to be concerned about the Chase standings? Not in the least, Earnhardt says.

"I look at it every week," Earnhardt said. "We're right in the middle of the pack ... It's still way too early to get comfortable. You have to keep your eye on some of these guys behind you, because they are very capable of being in the top 10 and probably should be."

Earnhardt mentioned Greg Biffle, who gained three places to 20th after finishing fourth at Richmond, and Elliott Sadler, who is No. 14 in the standings.

Count Earnhardt among the drivers who like to race on Saturday night. Roughly one-quarter of the 36 Nextel Cup points races are at night, and Earnhardt wouldn't mind seeing more. In addition to being cooler, Earnhardt senses a difference in attitude on Saturday and Sunday.

"It's nice to go on prime time on Saturday nights," Earnhardt said. "I can imagine there is a different feeling when you're watching a race on Saturday night at home than there is on Sunday.

"Sunday is sort of a lazy day for everybody. Saturday night is sort of wound up."

Ovals bore him

So, if there is a unification of Champ Car and the IRL, how would he feel if the nine oval tracks on the current IRL schedule are part of the unified schedule? Champ Car has only one oval (Milwaukee).

"Well, don't take me wrong," Bourdais said. "I don't like ovals where you don't drive. There are ovals where there is some real racing, and you have to drive the car, like Milwaukee and Indy.

"But when we used to go to Vegas for example, and it's two hours and basically the only input you have as a driver when you're going through traffic is pretty much how stupid you are willing to be. That's not racing.

"You can have oval racing where you don't end up being a passenger in your car. But if you don't drive, you might as well put monkeys in the cars, as a quite famous F1 driver said a little while ago."

Atlantic TV ratings

The TV ratings are in for the first Champ Car Atlantic race of the season, and congratulations are in order.

Sort of.

The good news: The Nielsen ratings were up 50 percent from last year for the Long Beach race April 9 that was televised on Speed Network on April 16. Here's where the news sort of fades.

The race had a Nielsen rating of .2 with a 1 share. That translates to an estimated 161,000 households and 241,000 viewers.

Last year, the Atlantic season opener at Long Beach had a .1 rating and 0 share, reaching 77,000 households.

It's rare that something with a .1 rating/0 share is mentioned. And 77,000 households with a 0 share is something like the numbers you'd get if you televised a Zamboni going in circles around a skating rink for an hour.

The Atlantic race today at the Grand Prix of Houston will be taped and shown on Speed at noon May 20.